Boulder — In the wake of protests over racism at the University of Missouri and the threatened boycott of the football team in support of calls for the school’s president to resign, Colorado assistant coach Darian Hagan has voiced support for the team and coach Gary Pinkel.

“In 2015 that stuff shouldn’t happen,” Hagan said of the racism that has been alleged at Missouri. “I applaud coach Pinkel for standing up for his guys. For him to stand up for his guys and do what he said was the right thing to do, which I agree with, that says a lot about him.”

After dozens of football players threw their support behind graduate student Jonathan Butler, who was on a hunger strike hoping to force the resignation of university president Tim Wolfe, Pinkel tweeted “We are behind our players.” Two days after the football team announced its boycott, Wolfe resigned.

“It was risky,” said Hagan, CU’s director of player development. “But when you believe in something that wholeheartedly and you know it’s the right thing, they can fire you at any time but your dignity and your pride can’t be taken away. You’ve got to stand up for yourself. You’ve got to stand up for what’s right.”

CU coach Mike MacIntyre said he knew little about the Missouri situation other than something he heard on the radio driving home from work late Tuesday night.

“If it can help race relations, that’s awesome,” MacIntyre said. “But I don’t know anything about it, so I can’t really comment (further).”

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